Automatic starting-box.



No. 874,898. PATENTED DEC. 24, 1907. T. M. MORRIS.

AUTOMATIG STARTING BOX. APPLICATION FILED MAY3,1907.

3 SHEETS-SHEET l,

PATENTED DFC.v 24, 1907,

Vat/Q41 R No. 874,898. PATENTED DEC. 24. 1907.

T. M. MORRIS.

AUTOMATIC STARTING 1202. APPLICATION FILED IAY3,1907-- 3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

liw M 294 KM that the current to the power mac UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS MARION. MORRIS, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOB- OFONE-FOURTH TO FREDERICK P. LEWIS AND ONE-FOURTH TO EDWARD H. EVERIT, BOTH OF NEW HAVEN,

CONNECTICUT.

AUTOMATIC STARTING-BOX.

Patented Dec", 29;, 1907'.

Application filed Kay 3. 1907. SerialNo. 371.698-

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, THoMA-s MARION MORRIS, a citizen of the United States, residing at New Haven, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Automatic Starting-Boxes; and I do hereby declare the followlng, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, and represent, in Figure 1 a view in rear elevation of an automatic starting box constructed in ac-- cordance with my invention. Fig. 2 a view in horizontal section on the line ab of Fig. 1 and-looking upward. Fig. 3 a view in front elevation showing the wheel switch. My invention relates to an improvement in automatic startin boxes designed with particular reference or use with telephone ringing machines but capable of being used in any situation where electric motors are used, the general object being to automatically start the power motor in case the same is stopped by a temporary interruption of the current thereto. When my improved starting box is used 1n conjunction with a telephone ringing machine, the specific object is to automatically start the emergency machine at an time l iine is interrupted and to automatically stop the emergency machine and start the power ma-- chine when the current'again reappears on the ower main.

V$th these ends in view, my invention consistsoin an automatic starting box having certain details of construction and combinations of parts as willbe hereinafter described and pointed out in the claims.

. In carrying out my invention as herein shown, I employ a pilot motor 2 of any approved construction, connected by leads 3 and 4 through resistance coils 5, 5, to the leads 6 and 7 of the main line. The said lead 6 goes direct to one side of the main line switch C while the said lead 7 goes through the field coil of the power machine D to the other side of the main line switch C aforesaid. The power machine I) it may here be said, is of any approved construction for telephone ringing machines; Its shaft 8 is furmshed at its lower end with an endthrust bearing 9 and has at its upper end a worm' gear 10 co-acting with a large gear wheel 11. mounted upon the projecting rear end of. a longitudinally -movable tube 12 having a square longitudinal opening adapting it to fit over the square rearportion 13 of a rock shaft 14 the front end of which is journaled in the front late 15 of the rheostat, while its rear end ears in the said tube 12 which is free to rock as well as to slide in the core 16 of a large circular magnet 17 se cured to the rear plate 18 of the rheostat and extending rearward through the same sufliciently to act upon the said gear wheel 11 so as to draw the same forward to disengage it from the worm gear 10 at which time the tube .12 is caused to slide forward on the square portion 13 of the rock shaft 14. On account of the function just referred to, I shall hereafter, for convenience, call the magnet 17, the gear disengaging magnet.

A coiled spring 19 encircling the rear end of the tube ,12 is interposed between the inner face of the'gear 11 and a shoulder'20 within the core 16 and provides for pushing the gear 11 rearward so as to 'reengage it with the worm gear 10 when the circuit through the magnet 17 is broken and when the said'tube 12-is released for such rearward sliding movement by the disengagement from the flange 22 at its extreme forward end of a hook-like armature 21 hung upon a stud 23, engaged. with the said flange 22 by a spring24 and disengaged therefrom by a sma l tripping magnet 25 carried by a bracket 26 attached to the inner face of the front plate 15 which, as well as the plate 18, consistsbf a slab of slate or other similar material.

T he gear-disengagin magnethas two leads 27 and 28, the former leading to a button 29 upon the rear face of the plate 18 an d the latter to the'line--terminal 30 on the starting box, the magnet being energized only when the telephone ringing machine is running. The tripping magnet 25 is operated by a local battery 81 the leads and 33 of which terminate through the local battery 31 in but-- tons 34 and 35 through which the circuit is completed by a small yielding copper con tact plate 36 carried by and insulated from the rock arm 37. the mm able arm so called, of the rhcosint.

When the telephone ringing machine is not running and the arm 37 is in its dead position in which it is shown by full lines in Fig. 1,

I ning position in which it is shown by broken the late 36 closes the circuit through "the loca battery leads 32 and 33, whereby the magnet is. energized for operating the armature 21 in releasin the tube 12 to* the action of the spring 19 w rich ushes the tube rearward so as to reengage t e gear 11 with the worm gear 10. In the circuit of-the leads and 33, I locate a small switch 38 for the purpose of opening the local battery circuit 31 in the event of discontinuing the use of the machine for any length of time.

Tire rock arm 37 is mounted uponthe projecting rear end of the squared portion 13 of the rock shaft 14 and when the telephone ringing machineis running, is held in its runlines in Fig. 1, by means of a releasing magnet 39 mounted upon the rear face of the rear plate 18 and acting upon'a small armature e0 loosely mounted upon one edge of the arm37 in the usual manner. The said releasing magnet 39 has two leads 41 and 42, the former terminating at the shunt field terminal 43 and the latter terminating in the extreme left hand resistance button 44 which in turn is connected through the ordinary resistances A, witha series of buttons 44*, 44 44 44 44 445,44 and 44. This resistance circuit controlling the amount of current entering the armature of the power machine D is, however, open until the arm 37 has moved sufficiently from right to left to bring. the sliding contact plate 45 carriedby it into engagement with the adjacent button 4 1, the said plate, 45 being also eng ed at the same moment with a s'egmenta contact strip 46 mounted upon the rear face of theplate 18 and connected by a lead 47 with the armature terminal 4:8.

The emergency motor B, which may be of any approved construction, is connected by leads l9 and 50 with a pair of segmental contact-strips 51 and 52 located upon the back of the plate 18 above the series of resistance buttons specified; "These strips 1 shall hereafter speak of, for convenience, as the emergency motor contact strips When the power machine is running and the arm 37 is in its normal or running position, the emergency motor circuit is open. The moment, however, the circuit is broken through thereiease magnet 39 so as to release the arm 37, the emergency motor circuit is closed by the engagement ofthe adjacent ends of the strips 51 and 52 by a sliding contact plate 53 carried by the arm and insulated therefrom. As the ,arm swings from left to right the plate 53 rides over the strips 51 and 52, maintaining a circuit through the emergency motor. I may explain in this connection'that the emergency motor itself is provided with a rheostat B precisely the same in all respects as that which I am now describing, wita the single exception that the emergency motor contact strips 51 and 52 are omitted. This rheostat B is diagrammatically shown in miniature ,on Fig. 1.

These strips are constructed to extend vir tually between the running and dead positions of the arm 37 so that the emergency motor circuit may be closed and broken close to the running position of the arm 37, whereby opportunity is given to the emergency motor to reach its full speed every time its current is broken as would not be the case if the strips 51 and 52 were made short in which case the arm in the emergency ,motor machine corresponding to-the'arm 37, might be stopped in some intermediate position' in which case a portion of the resistance coils would be cut out of the emergency motor circuit which might injure the emergency machine. This contingency by making the strips 51 and 52 long, as shown.

Some provision must be made for leadin the'secondary currents to the-switch board from whichever machine'is being usedythat is to say, to lead' the secondary currents from the power machine to the svntch board when the powermachine is being used and tolead the secondary currents from the emergency motor to the switch board when the emergency motor is being used.- For this purpose 1 provide an oscillating switchwheel 54 (Fig. 3) automatically controlled by the working of the rheostat located in front of the front plate .15 and mounted upon the projecting forward end of the rock-shaft 14 so as to be turned thereupon independently thereof by means of a short rock arm 55 keyed .upon the projecting forward end of the shaft and arranged to alternately en gage operating studs 56 and 57 carried by the wheel which is furnished with radial arms 58 the number of which will vary according to circumstances. Each arm 58 carries an insulated contact-plate 59 arranged for engagement with two power machine buttons 60 and 61- closing the secondary power leads and two emergency motor buttons 62 and 63 closing the emergenc r motor leads, these buttons being mounte in the plate 15. The buttons 61 and 62 of each group of four are connected by a short cross connection 64 and emergencymachine. As shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings, the switch wheel 54 is in position for the use of the emergency machine, thecontact plates 59 closing the circuitsbetween the buttons 62 and 63,- putting all of the second emergency leads 65 into the switch boar Now when the ower machine starts, the rock-shaft14 wil rock from right to left causing the arm-I55 tov move away from the stud 57 but withoutdisturbingthe, switch wheel 54 until the arm has nearly reached the limit of its movement from right to left when it engages with the stud 56 and moves the switch wheel 54 just enough from right to left to cause all of the l contact plates 59 to move from their engagement with the buttons 62 and 63 into engage ment with the buttons and 61, whereby all of the secondary leads from the emergency machine to the switch board are broken and all of the secondary leads from the power machine to the switch board are closed, changing the secondary leads from one machine to the other. When the plates 59 are engaged with the buttons 60 and 61- the current will flow from the power machine through the leads 66 to the buttons 60,

thence through the pla es 59 to the buttons 61, and thence through the leads -,67 to the switchboard.

Having now described my improvement in detail, will briefly set forth the mode of its operation.

Let it be supposed, for instance, that for some reason or other (it does not matter what), the main line circuit is interrupted, stopping the telephone ringing machine and demagnetizing the release magnet 39 and allowing the arm 37 to be moved by its spring 37 from its running or normal position at the left to its dead osition at'the rlght, Almost immediately aiter the arm 37 starts on this movement its contact plate 53 engages with the emergency motor circuit, whereby the emergency motor is started. The same movement of the arm 37 rocks the shaft 14 and the arm 55 and so. turns the switch-Wheel 54 and shifts all of the secondary leads to the switch board from the ower machine to the emergency machine. in this connection it may be again explained that the rheostat B of the emergency motor B is like the rheostat l'ully shown and described barring the omis sion of the contact strips '51 and 52 or the emergency machine itself may be replaced by an ordinary pole-changer in which case the sliding contact plate 53 and the strips 51 and 520i the starting boX would be employed for closing/the circuit through the pole-changer. \Vhen/ the arm 37 reaches its dead position, the contact plate 36 engages with the buttons 34 and 35 and closes a circuit through the trippingmagnet which being energizcd, retracts the hook oi the armature 21 'lIOlll the llango 22 of the tube 12 which is thus released to the action of the spring 19 which. acts to push-the tube rearward and so engage the gear wheel 11 with the worm gear machine back to the power machine.

10. As the wheel 1 1. goes into mesh with the worm 10 the llangc 22 of the tube engages with a contact spring 4 and draws the same into engagement with a contact point 4* closing the cirruit through the pilot motor 3 through the resistances 5, leaving the pilot motor 2 in remlinoss to be started as soon as the wsrrent reappears in the power main.

W'hen this happens the pilot motor 2 will be started and immediately operate through the worm 10 and gear 11 to move the arm 37' from right toleft back into its running position in which it will then be held against the tension of the spring 37, by the release magnet 39. Just before the arm reaches its running position, the contact plate 53 carried by it willride off the emergency motor contact strips 51 and 52 and break thecurrent through the emergency motor which will thus be automatically cut out. When the arm 37 reaches its runningposition the sliding contact spring 45 engages with the terminal stud 29 and thus closes a circuit through the geardisengaging magnet 17 which acts u on the gear Wheel 11 'to draw the same orward against the tension of the spring 19 until the flange 22 of the tube 12 is rengaged and held by the hook of the armature 21, Where by the gear wheel 11 is disengaged from the worm 10, leaving the arm 37 free to be moved into its'dead position by the spring'37, the instant the main current is again interrupted. It will of coursebeunderstood that when the arm 37 is moved from right to left, the switchwheel 54 is correspondinglymoved so that all of the secondary leads to the switch-board are shifted from the emergencIy t thus appears that the secondary leads. to the switch board are automatically shifted to the running machine whichever that may be, synchronously with the movement of the. arm 37 one way or the other,

I claim: 1. In an automatic starting box, the C011}.

bination with-the movable arm thereof, of means for automatically moving the said arm from its dead to its running position and for cutting the said arm-movingmeans out of and into operative position according to the position of the arm, and means for utilizing the arm to close a circuit through an emergency machine when the arm is not inits running position the said emergency machine then taking the place of the power machine.

2. In an automatic starting box, the com-- bination with the movable arm thereof, of means for automatically moving the said arm from its dead to its running position and for cutting out such means when the arm reaches its running position to permit it to automatically go back to its dead position, two contact strips connected with a separate source of electrical energy, and means carried by the arm for engagement lwith the said strips for closing a circuit through the same when the arm leaves its running position whereby a separate source of electrical energy is brought into use until the power current again appears on the mains,

8. in an automatic starting box, the comstrips extending nearly throughout the sweep of the .arm, and acontact plate car'- ried by the arm and in contact with the said strips except whenithe arm is in its running position whereby an emergency motor connected with a separate source of electrical energy is brought into use until the power current again appears on the mains.

4. In an automatic starting box, the combination with the movable arm thereof, of self-controlled means for automatically moving the arm from its dead to its running-'position, means operated by the arm for. closing 'a circuit through an emergency motor,and-a switch operated synchronously. w'iththe arm .for turning to the running machine, whichmay be,1the secondary-leads to the 25.; switchboard;

5. In 'anautomatic starting boir ,'the com vbination with the movable arm thereof, of

self-controlled means for moving the said arm irom ts dead to its running position and for releasing it in its running position when thepower leaves the main lines, means con trolled by the arm for ,closing the GlIGUlt through an emergency machine when the arm leaves its running position, and a wheelswitch operating synchronously with the said arm and turning the secondary leads to the switch-board to the running machine,

whichever it may he, in consonance with the movement of the arm.

6. In an automatic starting box, the com .bination with the movable arm thereof, of

self-controlled means for automatically moving the arm from its dead to its running po-.

sition in. which the said means are out out of action, means controlled by the arm for cutting the emergency machine into service, a roc shaft upon which the arm is mounted,

- and a ztvheelswitch arranged concentric with the said rock-shaft vand'controlled by it for shifting the secondary leads to whichever machine is running.

7. In an automatic startingbox, the combination with the movable arm thereof, of self-controlled means for automatically moving the arm from its dead to its running positior 1' in' which latter the said meansare cut out of operation, means controlled by the arm for closing the circuit through an emergency machine when the failure of the current on the main line lets the arm leave its said running position, and a wheel-switch operating synchronously with the movable arm'to shift the secondary leads to whichever machine is running, the said switch being provided with a series of radial arms each carrying a'contact plate swinging between two pairs of terminal studs one pair of which. goes to one machine and the other pair to the other machine, 8. In an automatic starting box, the combination with the movable arm thereof, of a rock-shaft upon which the same is mounted, a longitudinally movable tube located upon the said shaft, a gear Wheel carried by the said tube, a Worm gear meshing into the said gear wheel, a pilot motor for driving the said worm gear which drives the gear wheel in moving thesaid shaft from itsldead to its running position, a gear-disengaging magnet 'for disengaging the gear-wheel: from the Worm gear, means for holding the gear- Wheel in its out out position,- and a tripping magnet located in a circuit closed by the movable arm when in its dead position for releasing the said .tube and'permitting the said gear-wheel to engage with the said worm and thus place the pilot motor in readinessto act when the current returns to the main line. i In testimony whereof, I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

THOMAS MARION MORRIS. Witnesses: V

Fnnnnnr'o- O. EARLE,

Omani L. WEED. 

